Deception
by Zoe Jane Carmina
Summary: The first book in the Hell Hounds series. Dakkar is a Vampire, Hell-bent on revenge. Enslaved to work for the Hell Hounds organization, Dakkar is biding his time until his nemesis can be found. Co written with Alexander Gabriel!
1. Chapter 01

**Chapter 1 **

He walked through the revolving door so silently, he could have been a ghost. The whole floor could sense the presence of a very powerful vampire the moment he stepped through the doors. Having been alerted he was coming, everyone ceased their activities and turned to look at him. Tall and slender, he didn't look like much, but they were told to be wary of him, because underestimating him in any way could be the last thing they ever did. They watched his every move as he made his way swiftly to the receptionist at the front desk.

"I have an appointment." He said, as he pushed his crimson shades up onto the bridge of his nose.

"Name."

He flashed the receptionist an empty smile. "Dakkar Lenivi."

The receptionist turned from him and punched in a few numbers on the the intercom, a confident voice sounded. "Speak."

"Mistress, a Dakkar Lenivi to see you."

There was a moment of silence. Irritated, a terse reply came through the intercom. "Send him up." Security guards in the nearby vicinity made haste to comply with their Mistress' orders. They rushed to Dakkar's side, grabbing him by the arms, and proceeded to pat him down with unnecessary force. Dakkar graciously relinquished the katana he was holding when he came in. This Katana was a bit different than any commercially manufactured one. It had no hilt guard and the scabbard and hilt were pearl white, making it clearly a hand-made treasure. Almost at once they found the gun he carried, in a holster near his lower back. 'HCMk VII' was etched along the side of the slide. He allowed them to confiscate it without even a hint of resistance. They also took his black sunglasses with crimson tinted lenses, just in case he was hiding something within them. Those he thought he might miss. Though nothing else seemed suspicious, they weren't going to take any chances. They ruffled through his black hair, as its chin length was long enough to hide something in. They took his black trench coat off, leaving him in his black slacks and his white collared shirt and tie, and searched him a second time. They found nothing else out of the ordinary, and promptly handcuffed his hands behind his back so he could make no moves of aggression towards them.

The guards then led him to the elevator, and together they went up to the 11th floor. When the elevator doors opened, Dakkar could see that there was a clear path leading straight to the back. He knew then without a doubt, that the one he sought an audience with was behind the double doors at the end of the hall. The guards led him swiftly to the doors and knocked three times. A woman was waiting there to let them into their Mistress' chambers. She looked up at him with her gray eyes as he was escorted inside, and Dakkar couldn't help but think she looked very much like his sister did before she passed away. It was her light brown hair that seemed to be set ablaze in the sunlight. It was longer than his sister's hair was, but that was definitely the feature that sparked the memory. By her nametag, Dakkar knew this woman to be Claire. He chanced a glance around the room, and saw a few extra women standing at attention, and one who was casually sitting in her chair. The guards that escorted Dakkar there put his effects on her table.

"This is all he carried." One of the guards said. They all bowed in unison and went to stand guard outside the door. Without a word, Trinity bid her personal guards tie Dakkar up in the chair that was placed in the middle of the chamber. They did as she ordered, and in a moment's time, he was tightly bound, unable to make a move.

"This is gonna be fun." Dakkar grinned. Another moment of silence passed as Trinity stared into Dakkar's eyes.

"All of you, leave now." Trinity ordered.

A flash of defiance burst from Claire. "I will not Mistress!"

"Claire. He is but my play thing." Trinity said whimsically. "Do you think he stands a chance against me? Or maybe..." Trinity smirked. "You want him for yourself? He is rather... attractive."

Dakkar chuckled, "Now ladies let's be civilized. We are vampires, not bitches in heat." At that moment Claire darted toward Dakkar and stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener from Trinity's desk. She glared at him and twisted the dull blade as she did so. "This bitch has fangs and they only press deeper into your throat!" Claire sneered. With an unwavering grin, Dakkar seemed to notice no pain. This angered Claire more.

"Run along puppy. Us grown up doggies have to talk." Trinity stood up, "Claire, now why would you dare draw blood from our guest? Please leave, or I'll put you behind a desk for a week. Monica did look bored, I'm sure she'd love to get away from the front desk for once." she grinned.

"Yes Mistress. Please, when you're done let me have it, and do try to leave it alive for me." Claire walked swiftly up to the doors, motioned the guards to stand down, and bade them move out. When they were gone she bowed and closed the door.

"Ah yes, Lenivi was it?" Trinity got up from her chair, walked slowly towards Dakkar, and put her hand on the letter opener in his chest. "I'm sorry that she..." she grinned as she swiftly yanked the letter opener from his chest. "hurt you. May I interest you in a drink?" Dakkar looked up at her blankly. Trinity took it as his decline. "No? Well, do you mind if I?" She licked the letter opener clean. Visions of Dakkar's purpose flooded her mind. "Peace! Truce! Mutiny! Now my dear pet, what have you against Vlad?" She said surprised yet amused. He watched as she began to undress herself. One button at a time, her white blouse began to come off. She slowly exposed her lacy black bra. She reached behind her back, and in one smooth motion unzipped her skirt and pulled it off. He tilted his head sideways. She was wearing matching underwear. He realized he was getting distracted by her game and hadn't answered her question.

"I have nothing against him. Aside from his power. And it could be yours. Lucifer wants obedience from Clara and I. If you have us, Lucifer would no doubt allow you to rise above the rest of them." Dakkar said with a false sense of sincerity.

"And you'd do this for me?" She said, as she slowly climbed up the chair and into Dakkar's lap. "Is that your best pick up line?" She unbuttoned his shirt slowly. The wound from the letter opener was already gone and Trinity licked the remaining blood from his chest, savoring the taste. She silently eyed the crimson gem that hung from his neck. The gem glowed ever so lightly.

"Careful, I bite back." He said. Trinity could feel a hand gently caressing her inner thigh. It slid deftly upward, and she jolted in suspicion. Trinity examined Dakkar's restraints, and found nothing out of the ordinary. Dakkar knew that having the ability to change one's form was something not even the most powerful of vampires could boast. So he was careful not to raise any more suspicion otherwise he knew things could get difficult. She laughed playfully, and bore down on Dakkar's neck with her mouth. Her hands found their way to Dakkar's belt, and tugged it loose. She pulled away for a moment.

"How bout we celebrate? We'll christen our new alliance with an act of faith, or rather, carnal knowledge." Making her way back up his exposed chest, Trinity brushed up against the gem, making to take it. She screamed as her body incinerated into ash almost instantly.

"I've got five seconds to get my things and prepare for a fight." Dakkar said to himself, or so it seemed. The sound of the restrains could be heard falling from the chair as Dakkar reappeared by Trinity's desk.

"Plenty of time, Brother." A voice from nowhere said with much enthusiasm. Dakkar put on his coat, cocked his gun, and released the safety. A slight scraping sound of metal rubbing against wood could be heard as he readied his katana in his right hand.

Dakkar laughed heartily. "You mean you don't doubt me." Just then the guards broke down the doors and came into the room. The first woman into the room aimed her gun at the ashes of her Mistress. Three more of them entered with a standard breach and clear tactic and performed it with military efficiency. Claire and one other guard followed just behind them. They assumed a box type formation in front of Claire and her accompaniment as they awaited Claire's orders.

"Mistress!" The first guard shouted, as the lights went out.

Dakkar used his speed and the moment the disorientation of the lights going out caused to slip unnoticed into the middle of their formation. He stabbed the front guard's heart with his katana. Blood and metal erupted through the guard's flak jacket as he aligned his gun with the back guards heart and pulled the trigger. The bullet went straight through her chest, killing her instantly, as it made its way directly towards Claire. She wasn't quick enough to dodge it completely and suffered a minor scratch to the arm. Dakkar used the force of the weapons kickback to launch his body in the air using his first victim's body as hurdle. With this action he was able to wrench his katana free from the first guard and aligned it with the left collar bone of his next victim. Once he was satisfied with the trajectory he threw his katana toward his target. It made a whirring sound as it flipped rapidly through the air. His blade flowed through bone, sinew, heart, fabric and metal without a single drop of blood seeping past the wound it made. The mortally wounded guard stood still in shock, as if her body knew she was dead but her mind did not. His katana hit the ground with enough force to shatter the tiles beneath it. Dakkar landed on all fours directly behind the last guard. He raised his gun-hand backwards as his mind's eye searched for the best bullet trajectory. Once he was decided the second shot ripped through the body of the guard on his left. Entering point blank from the lower back of her body, piercing her heart, and leaving though her collar bone, the bullet ricocheted off of some early European armor that hung on the wall, and caught the guard standing next to Claire in the heart.

With his head still bowed Dakkar sighed, "I'm sorry, but your mistress is..." Dakkar grinned. "...out smoking."

The bodies of all five guards dropped to the floor and turned to ash, revealing Claire standing, on guard and bleeding from her shoulder. Instantly enraged, Claire's eyes glowed a bright blue as if fire were emitting from them. Still kneeling on the floor with his katana impaling the ground and his gun-hand over his shoulder he looked up at Claire.

His crimson sunglasses sagged. "Ah, impressive." With his gun-hand, Dakkar motioned for Claire to 'bring it on.' The blood on her arm collected and swirled into a ball. In an instant the blood was hurled at the place where Dakkar was last kneeling, only to see his Katana was all that remained. Dakkar whistled. "Now that is impressive!" he said genuinely. There was a tear and a gash of blood on his right arm mirroring the one he gave Claire. Her eyes were closed and her wound bled faster, spilling onto the floor. Dakkar raised his gun hand and squeezed off a few rounds at Claire's heart. Out of all the bullets only the first one made a mark on her. The rest were buffeted by the wall of blood that now stood between him and Claire. Since the sound of a dead body dropping could not be heard, Dakkar paused a moment and re-holstered his gun. He walked towards his katana slowly, careful not to make any noise.

Before he was able to grab it back the wall of blood shattered and Claire dashed at Dakkar. He dodged her just barely and tried to run for his katana. He noticed then a dome of blood blocking his weapon. Shards of the dome came off and whizzed by him as Claire made to attack once more. Dakkar reached for his gun only to find that it was no longer there. Claire had taken it on her first pass at him, since her attack failed to meet its target. Smirking, she dashed at him again with a dagger of blood in her left hand and Dakkar's gun in her right. The blade of her blood dagger was huge. It followed down her whole forearm as she held it in a reverse grip. His gun on the other hand seemed a bit much for her. Dakkar knew she wasn't going to be able to handle a shot from that thing. At least he hoped not.

Seeing opportunity in the split second he was caught off guard, Claire fired a shot with amazing accuracy. The bullet barely missed Dakkar and ripped through his trench coat.

"Ok this is not good." Dakkar said displeased. He tried for his sword again but the dome of blood surrounding it lashed out and almost impaled his hand. Dakkar hurdled over the obstruction to hide and Claire fired off shots from his gun a few more times. The bullets melted through the dome and would have hit Dakkar, if it were not for his sword. The holes had exposed the sword and hitting it caused the bullets to fly out of their trajectory. Dakkar grinned and attempted to grab his sword once more. The dome around the sword shattered and pinned Dakkar to the opposite side of the room with concussive force.

"I got you now asshole!" Claire scoffed. "Why did you kill her? Never mind, it doesn't matter! Know my name well so that when you rejoin Lucifer you can tell him that it was Claire Murray who sent you back to Hell!" She dropped his gun and tossed the blood knife into her right hand. She dropped into a stabbing stance and proceeded to come at him with her final lunge.

"Murray? As in Drake Murray!" Dakkar asked surprised as Claire closed in. She faltered then, and it was just enough time for Dakkar to dissolve his form to get loose. During the moment she was uncertain, Dakkar solidly planted his fist into her stomach. Her body buckled in pain due to lack of breath. She fell to her knees then, gasping for breath. Dakkar walked to his gun, picked it up, and pistol whipped her in the back of the head. This knocked Claire out cold. No longer under her control, her blood lost its form and fell to the floor. He picked up his katana with its sheath and motioned to behead her.

"Obviously the heart thing isn't gonna crack it on this one." Dakkar's hand caught on fire and the usually perky voice was now unusually distraught. "You can't kill her! You promised to protect her!" The voice echoed. It seemed as if it was crying.

"But she's the enemy!" barked Dakkar. Footsteps could be heard outside the room, quickly closing in on his location.

"Fine!" he shouted. He sheathed his sword, picked up his gun, fired the last shot at the window, slung Claire over his shoulder, and jumped out of the building landing onto the building next door. Running quickly and carefully, he gracefully made his way down from the series of buildings, and out into the street below. With the check in at Hell Hounds Headquarters still to come, he needed to drop Claire off somewhere.

"What the hell am I doing with her? I should just leave her here. They'll come after me to get her back!" he whispered angrily.

"You can't! They'll kill her for her failure!" The girl's voice seemed desperate.

"You don't know that! Besides, where do I leave her!" Dakkar was puzzled.

"Take her home."

"What! That is a big NEGATIVE!"

"Just until she wakes up and is safe!" the voice seemed a bit irritated at Dakkar's defiance.

"Fine! I hope I have enough duct tape for this!" Dakkar shouted back irritably.


	2. Chapter 02

**Chapter 2 **

Dakkar carried the unconscious Claire up to his apartment. It wasn't that she was particularly heavy, but getting the door unlocked while holding her in his arms was a bit tricky. He didn't want to let her down onto the cold floor lest he wake her. It was imperative that he restrain her before she woke up, or she'd end up being more trouble than she was worth. He carefully he grabbed his key out of his front pocket, and clumsily fumbled around looking for the door handle. He felt around the lock for its shape, and felt the key. He lined the key up as best as he could with the lock, and shoved it in the door handle. He turned the key in the lock and let himself in.

Dropping his keys straight onto the polished wood floor, Dakkar made his way to the 4-post bed. It was carved of a sort of very dark wood, and stained with a dark stain to match. The sheets were a deep shade of red. He tugged at the down comforter until it came loose, and delicately placed Claire's head on his favorite feather pillow. Brushing her hair aside, he moved to gently tuck her into bed. She stirred a moment, and went straight back to being asleep.

There was a small table next to the bed on the other side, and he made his way around to get into one of its drawers. He reached for the bottom most drawer and slowly pulled it out. He took out a new roll of duct tape and replaced the drawer silently. He swiftly began taping Claire's fingers together on each hand. He didn't want her waking up while he was gone and having any kind of opportunity to draw blood and free herself with it. In the same manner he taped her feet. He made 4 long strips of tape and proceeded to tape her spread-eagled to his bed posts. He wasn't about to take chances with her escape, so he taped her to the bed using the comforter to hold her in place, taping around her chest, her hips, and her legs, just to be sure.

He placed the duct tape roll back in the lowest drawer, and took out his weapon cleaning supplies. He meticulously placed them on his bedside table, intending to clean his weapons thoroughly after reporting in to Hell Hounds, and walked over to the front door, picking his keys off the floor as he went. Without a backwards glance, he walked out the door, locking it behind him. He walked down the hallway and took the elevator to the lobby. He walked the length of the lobby floor in a few quick paces, and was out the glass door. He made a quick left, and walked the two blocks to the Hell Hounds Headquarters.

The building was so old and out of place that no one seemed to take notice of it. It was a gothic style brick building. The overhang was adorned with pointed arches and intricately carved deities of all kinds, and the door held a simple stained-glass depiction of what appeared to be the fall of Roman Empire. If anyone were to chance a glance at the building, they might think it a run-down church. This made it the perfect hiding place for the Hell Hounds. Dakkar let himself in with his key, and nodded to the lady at the front desk.

"Dakkar, you're back in one piece." She said somewhat relieved, yet annoyed.

They all knew that Trinity was a succubus type and they could only imagine the debauchery that may have taken place. Sensing this Dakkar stopped and turned to the receptionist.

"Cheri, now you know I'd never die before I've..." he grinned at her lecherously as he approached her desk, leaned in, embraced her cheek, and turned her face to reveal her neck. "I've at least had you... for dinner."

"Cerberus!" A man with a slight German accent barked from atop the stairway. Dakkar lowered his head to Cheri's neck as if to finish what he had started. Cheri sighed in ecstasy just before Dakkar pulled away. As Cheri came to her senses she realized that Dakkar was already gone and her phone was waiting for her attention.

"Did you find anything new!" The accent was ever so slight but it was there. German was David's main ethnicity, and he spoke English and German fluently.

"Have the techs search the data base for a Vlad or Vladimir. Trinity gave me that before she tried for Clara." Dakkar's voice was now cold and driven with purpose.

"You mean you killed her!"

"No, Brother didn't. It would be safer to say I did." A girl's voice no older than fifteen interrupted.

"Look David, I'm sorry but you know as well as I do there is no one on this planet that can touch Clara..." Dakkar said with some sense of apology. "Well, not anymore."

"He's dead and there is nothing you can do about that."

"Oh, by the way David..." Dakkar said hesitantly.

"Well, I'll see what the tech's can find." David continued.

"There was an issue with my last assignment." Dakkar said under his breath.

"Issue?" David said nonchalantly.

"Never mind David, it was just my weapons, that's all. I'll have Dmitri look at them, seeing as they are scheduled for a checkup anyway."

"By the way we have a new candidate for the next target." David wasted no time getting to business. "There is a 'coven' that owns a hospital in town. They have been doing new research on artificial blood. Their stocks were crashing, their leader was gone, and it looked like our late succubus Trinity Harker was a frequent visitor." David handed the papers to Dakkar. "But now it looks like they are back on track, and their C.E.O. is back as well."

"This could be a dead end David. Last I checked that hospital was neither owned by the Order nor the SoM, and least of all a coven. Just some pro vampire rights conglomerate who masquerades around as a coven. We are coming from the shadows trying to co-exist. This kind of publicity for my kind is good. It shows that we are willing to stop the 'stealing' of blood, and it shows that there are people out there that are trying to help us. If I were to find that the Order was indeed behind this, it would shatter the positive image we are trying so hard to create, and flood in the negative."

"I understand that Dakkar, so don't let the public know. It's not like the whole company is under the influence of the Order. There is always some good in people, vampire or not." With that David nodded, and Dakkar took his leave, heading toward Engineering.

"You should have told him" The voice taunted.

"I don't know for sure that this Claire Murray is really Drake Murray's sister so we'll report it when there is something to report." Dakkar said confidently.

"She is and you know it!" Said the voice with a hint of frustration.

Dakkar opened the Engineering room door and without warning there was an explosion, coupled with bits of harmless fluffy shrapnel which showered throughout the inside of the room. There was a mangled doll that was torn to shreds with the label 'Vampire' across the body.

"There are vampires, and there are people like you Dmitri!"

"Dakkar!" The voice came from under a table. "Look at that! You see that?"

"I'm a vampire Dmitri not a bloody psychic. The door was closed. How could I 'see that'?" Slightly enraged and offended about the doll, especially after his conversation with David, Dakkar barked as if somewhat threatened. Dmitri sensed his irritability and chuckled as he tried to get up without hitting his head on the table.

"The doll Dakkar, please pay it no mind."

"Pay it no mind!" Dakkar barked again. Dmitri jumped slightly, and hit his head on the corner of the table on his way up.

"You're right." Dakkar grinned. "As well as the bash on your head. I'll pay it no mind either." He retorted.

"We are touchy today. Did Cheri turn you down again? And what about those glasses hmm? They definitely would have told you that there was an explosive device in here! They aren't just for show you know." Dmitri said as if it were a self-evident truth.

"Dmitri," Dakkar said softly. "Where are we?"

"Um... the Engineering wing?"

"Right!" Dakkar put his arm around Dmitri's shoulder. "And what, pray tell, is in the Engineering room?"

"Heavy equipment?" Dmitri said with an almost immediate yet perky response."

"True, but try again."

"Ah! Guns and Munnitions!"

"Yes, now what do guns have in them?"

"Explosives!" This time Dmitri was proud of his answer.

"You are correct, sir."

"Now how in bloody hell am I to know that an explosive would be going off even with these glasses scanning the room!" Dakkar was shouting in Dmitri's ear at the top of his lungs.

Dmitri winced at the shouting. "Ah. I see your point. Well that's why I have the testing light on!" Dmitri retorted. Dakkar pulled Dmitri out of the room with somewhat blinding speed, stopped, and pointed up. "See the light is clearly..." Dmitri sagged. "Not on." He said in defeat. With that, Dakkar pulled them back into the room. "What do you need Dakkar?" Dmitri said back to his usual perky self.

"It's time for 'The Voice of Cerberus' maintenance." A voice just as perky chimed through the room.

"So Brother needs your clearance Dmitri!"

"That's right! Hand it over!" Dmitri held out his hand. Dakkar dropped his gun and Dmitri buckled under the weight of it. "I might as well do a stress test on the 'Fang of Cerberus' as well.

"Already on it." Dakkar slid the katana into a machine.

Dmitri set the gun down and deftly took it apart, cleaned it, and oiled it. He put it back together with great speed, loaded a single round, aimed it at the back of Dakkar's head, and fired. Dakkar turned and a flash of silver darted across the bullet's trajectory as two parallel bullet holes found their way to the wall. The wall was riddled with them. Two distinct bunches of bullet holes could be seen on the opposite wall. Dakkar laughed followed by Dmitri.

"They pass as always Dakkar." Dmitri said as he tried to catch his breath. "Besides, there is no way that that machine can correctly analyze your Fang. This is the only test I can think of to do. Until I can analyze it more properly, keep doing what you do to it."

Dakkar and Dmitri shook hands and hugged on the way out. "Good luck my friend." said Dmitri. Dakkar nodded as he headed down the stairway. Cheri looked up at the swinging door, but before she could see a figure, she could feel the breath of someone behind her. A wave of heat splashed over her back and seemed to envelop all of her body. Her skin pricked with goosebumps wherever the heat went. It slid down her blouse and was on its way past her belly button when the phone rang. The heat source was pulled away just as fast as it moved down her body.

"Damn it Dakkar! A simple 'good bye' would suffice just fine!" She was clearly aroused and her face was flushed. She turned on her desk fan and answered the phone. "What!" She barked. "Oh David... Yes... He just left... No..." She looked down into her lap. "Oh yes he did. They're with me. Ok I'll fax them over and file them. Right. Good bye."

Back outside, Dakkar decided he needed to stop by the hardware store on his way home to pick up some more duct tape, seeing as he'd used most of his roll on securing Claire to his bed. He walked casually into the store, and down to the tape aisle. He grabbed a roll of duct tape off the shelf, and turned to leave the aisle. Thinking better of it, he turned back again and grabbed a second roll of duct tape, just in case. He made his way to the front of the store, and paid the teenage punk they called their cashier with cash before heading out and walking back home.

Dakkar saw that Claire was already awake when he walked in the door, and he smirked at her. He put the new rolls of duct tape away and went over to the dresser in his closet. He grabbed out a clean pair of boxers, and a pair of dress pants, and went into the bathroom to shower. Without bothering to close the door, he placed his clean clothes on the counter and began to undress, throwing his dirty clothes in the hamper as he did so. He took the chain around his neck off last, and delicately placed it on the counter on top of his clothes. He turned the water on and waited for it to reach the right temperature before stepping down into the recessed shower. He let the water run into his hair, and trickle down his back. He washed out his hair with shampoo, and scrubbed his body clean with his hand and a bar of soap.

He could hear a muffled thudding noise coming from Claire's direction. No doubt she was trying to free herself of her confinement. The thudding noise stopped after a moment or two though, and satisfied with his duct taping job, Dakkar shrugged it off and began to rinse himself clean. He turned the water off and wiped the glass door clean of any soap scum using the hand towel he kept draped over the door. Replacing the hand towel, he stepped out of the shower onto the cold tile. His maroon towel was hanging on a rack to the right, and he took it and began to dry his lower body off. Once dry, he took the chain off of the clothes and hung it once more around his neck. He put his boxers on, and pulled his slacks up and zipped them, and began drying his hair as he walked out of the bathroom.

Just in time, he saw that Claire had managed to free an arm of his duct tape contraption, and having noticed he'd come out of the bathroom, she'd whipped a shard of blood at his head with lightning-fast speed. He barely had enough time to step to the side, as the shard zoomed past his head and stuck itself into the bathroom door. He turned on a dime, and angrily yanked the shard of blood out of the door. Her eyes were furious, and blazing with bright blue once more. He bit the tip of the shard off to spite her, and was immediately overcome with a slew of colorful curses and demands.

"I can't understand a single word of that filth you call language." Dakkar scoffed. "Did you drop my gun cleaning tools?" He grabbed her hand and re-secured it to the post. Then he prodded her body while he undid a few straps of tape. The leftover shard of blood was now suddenly aligned with the front of his throat. It floated there as if to mock him, or rather, coerce him into doing Claire's bidding.

"Do it! You'll only anger her more."

"You shouldn't kill someone who spared your life Ms. Murray." The voice giggled. "Besides, what would your brother say if you killed his only..."

"Enough, Clara." Dakkar cut her off. "It's obvious all she wants to do is kill me, right? Then let her." He grabbed the shard and pushed it deep into his throat. Blood began to gush from the wound as Claire looked on in horror. As Dakkar's body hit the bed, his pendant brushed the bedding and it caught fire. Before she knew it, Claire was burning and everything around her was on fire. The ceiling began to crack, and she could hear the sounds of the support beam coming down on the bed. She knew she could heal herself fast, but not this fast. When that beam came down, there was no telling what more damage could be done.

The ceiling snapped as the beam fell dead center with the bed. Claire cringed in anticipation of being crushed to death by the burning beam. After a moment had past, she realized she felt no pain. Instead she felt the ripping of hairs from her forearms as Dakkar yanked the tape off. She opened her eyes only to find Dakkar had straddled her legs and was releasing her arms from their bonds. His pendant was on her forehead as his exposed chest was almost centimeters away from her face.

"There, you're free to go now. Sorry about the vision. It was her idea." Dakkar said as he tucked her arm under his legs to keep her restrained. "I'm gonna get off of you now, and when I do we can either continue our little spat at the office, to which there could be two outcomes. One, I kill you, and because of it Clara will never help me ever again. Therefore without her help, I'll die from the trials I will soon face, and we continue our battle in hell. Or two, you kill me in which case my dear Clara here..." He motioned to the pendant around his neck.

"Will go into a grievous rage and invoke the rebirth of Phoenix which will incinerate the entire city to ashes in under a second. Then we can continue our battle in hell. Or you could just play it nice and kindly leave."

"If you're letting me leave then why the fuck did you bring me here in the first place!" Claire shouted.

"That was my idea again." Clara said rather embarrassed. "They looked so mean, and you had failed, and without Trinity to help you you'd be kicked out, or made to serve one of the ten again, and you and Dakkar would have to fight again, and that would mean he'd have no choice but to break his promi..."

"Enough Clara!" Dakkar said annoyed, as if scolding a child.

"But Brother!"

"No, Clara." Dakkar sighed.

"Just promise me this Claire. Don't go back to the Son's of Methuselah, don't go back to the Order, just go somewhere to hide, just play dead for a while. Please, Claire! Please!" Clara's words sounded as if she were brought to tears. Just then, Dakkar dissolved into mist and Claire was free. He reappeared sitting on the desk loading bullets into a clip. He tapped the computer a few times and the words 'Hell Hounds' appeared on a logo of a black wolf with scarlet wings.

"Good bye Claire. Please take care of yourself." Clara said dejectedly.

"That's it?" Claire said with a defeated chuckle. "You'll just kick me out like some stray cat?"

"I don't have food if that's what you're getting at." Dakkar said nonchalantly. "Look. Just a minute ago you were looking to cut off my head, and now you want to stick around and ask me questions? What do you think I know? Even if I did why would I tell my enemy anything? If you were in my situation, would you say anything to me?" Dakkar's voice was emotionless; nothing about her seemed to interest him. It was almost as though he was fulfilling an obligation as the person who decided to shelter a stray cat for a day and was now done. She wasn't needed anymore, nor was he attached to her in any way.

"Besides, shouldn't you go mourn your lover? Ms. Harker was it?"

"How dare you!" Claire was livid. She reached down and grabbed anything she could find to throw at him. She settled for a shoe. Dakkar snatched it out of the air and tossed it back at her without moving from his chair.

"Not a lover then? Still I owe you nothing. We are on opposing sides." Dakkar said frankly.

Claire thought for a moment. 'He's right. I did try to kill him, and as far as he knows, I'll just take back information regarding the people he works for and the Order will launch a counter attack for the death of Trinity Harker.'

"I don't work for the Order anymore. I renounce the titles and responsibilities of my job as head of security." She took her tag off and threw it at Dakkar. He dodged it deftly and caught it with his right hand. "Take that to them and tell them I'm dead by your hand, and they'll leave me alone."

Dakkar paused and pocketed the name tag. 'Why would he do that for me?' She wondered. "Why do you want me to leave the Order anyway?"

"I don't want to fight you again. I'd rather not die till I'm done with my duties. Not that you'd understand or care." Dakkar said softly.

"So you've finally realized I'd kill you in a fair fight?" Claire said amused.

"Do I have to explain this to you again?" Dakkar's form dissolved and reappeared behind her. He reached around her stomach and pulled her towards him, resting his chin on her shoulder. She could feel his hands move up her blouse as he whispered softly in her ear,

"Regardless of our outcome, I'll die sooner or later. I rather it be later. Much later." Claire turned, aiming to elbow him in the gut, but she only caught air.

"Please do try to be lady like. You are very unattractive when you're focused on ripping someone's head off." Dakkar taunted from the shadows.

She thought for another moment. 'What was that about? Did he think I was going to be that disgusted with his sexual harassment that I'd leave just like that? Or maybe…' Claire looked around, as if she wasn't satisfied as to where Dakkar's body was. He was back to sitting on his chair in front of his computer. She looked down and noticed a hole in her blouse and some minor damage to both her skirt and undergarments. 'I have an idea!' She thought to herself. She approached Dakkar slowly and unbuttoned what was left of her blouse.

"Your pendant mentioned a promise that you had made. It seems she wants to keep me from fighting you." Claire said desperately. "I'll do anything you want. Just tell me about my brother." She said, now pleading. She got down on her knees and put a hand on Dakkar's chest. She was close enough to him that she could smell the bar soap he used to wash his skin.

But before she could make a move on him, his form disappeared and she could hear the hum of Dakkar's katana at the back of her neck.

"Brother! Don't do it! Please, she just wants to know!" Clara shouted. "If you kill her..." The necklace on his body was glowing bright orange and the smell of burning flesh permeated the air worse than burnt popcorn. The pendant was now on fire, and the wound it inflicted looked painful as the chain sank deeper into Dakkar's chest. He let her move from his blade, as it shook in rage. Turning to face him, Claire could see that his eyes were so plainly furious, they had paralyzed Claire's body, and her soul shook as if terrified.

It took a moment to make her brain work again. She shook her head. 'This man, he could kill me! He'd be the first to ever get this close to killing me since I received this power. It's been a long time since I've been this frightened.' Claire thought. With her body shaken and exposed, she could feel tears streaming down her face. She hated him for making her feel so frail, so worthless. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Again it never happened. When she opened her eyes, Dakkar was gone. Confused, she focused her attention to the bits of her blood that remained in Dakkar's stomach. 'He is still in the building!' She could feel him as if she were inside of him. She got up quickly and finished getting undressed. Her clothes were tattered, and not suitable to be running around the city with.

She dashed to the closet and pulled out a shirt and pair of pants from Dakkar's closet. She was surprised that she had found them so quickly. They were arranged in a similar manner to her own. Though they were a bit long, the shirt and pants also fit her better than she'd expected. She looked back and saw an e-mail on Dakkar's computer:

Subject: "St. Anderson's. Dakkar, I suppose you know the way?"

A picture of a man that Claire had seen before was next to the message.

"His name is Nos Elroy. He is there right now. He's an assassin class and we believe he is there to kill someone important to the hospital staff. Hurry or you'll miss your chance."

-David V. Hellsing.

With that, Claire bolted out of the door and slammed it shut behind her.


	3. Chapter 03

**Chapter 3 **

He knew that she wasn't gone yet, because he could feel her presence just around the corner. It amazed him that she would still hang around after the bout they had earlier, but then again, she was turning out to be a really stubborn woman, and more than he'd have liked to deal with. He considered this as he causally made his way down the hill towards the housing district. He could feel her following him. What was she trying to gain by doing that anyway? She wasn't going to get any answers out of him, no matter how many times she tried.

He quickly took a corner, and sped up a bit to try and get out of range of her sensing him. Without missing a beat, Dakkar brushed against a burly man and transformed his appearance to mirror the man's. It was too conspicuous he decided, and instead touched an old lady and assumed her form. Claire was still following him, and the old lady he turned into was much too slow. He asked the help of a young boy to help him cross the street, and as soon as the young boy got him across, he forgot all about the old lady. Humans were so useful sometimes. Their memory so fraile. If he needed to be forgotten then a quick glance into the eyes of his subject and he was gone. He could only affect their short term memory, but effective none the less. Upon turning a new street corner, he then became the young boy. He ran down the street pretending to be chased, and noticed that Claire was still keeping pace, though she had dropped a bit back after the young boy form.

He knew he had to lose her. Irritated, he assumed his normal appearance, ran into the nearest deserted alley and assumed his wolf form darting out at top speed. He zigzagged his way through a series of streets, even turning back at some points and making circles at others. He was so fast in wolf form that he put quite a lot of distance between them in a very short amount of time. Confident he had put enough distance between them for her to lose his scent, he made his way to the hospital that concealed his next target, and assumed normal form again before stepping inside the emergency's waiting room.

They were busy as usual, but Dakkar commanded so much presence that they all stopped and looked up when he walked in. 'Curiosity killed the cat.' Dakkar thought to himself. He briefly locked eyes with the few humans in awe at his entry. Without thinking twice they resumed their businesses, completely forgetting his entrance, and he took the stairs to the second floor.

Nos Elroy was sitting by himself in a white lab coat and a fake doctor's identification, reading the latest Import Tuner magazine. Dakkar entered the cafeteria. It was the normal dinner rush and all but two tables were taken. Amidst the pandemonium, Dakkar was able to make it to the table in a matter of seconds. Nos looked up then from his magazine. Taken aback by the sight of Dakkar, Nos began to panic. He was on his feet and running towards the kitchen much faster than Dakkar was expecting.

'Hmph. So it's a chase he wants then. Alright. I'm game.' Dakkar thought mischievously. He figured he would give Nos a bit of a head start. It would be no fun otherwise. He counted to ten, and followed Nos into the cafeteria's kitchen. Dakkar opened the door on his right and turned to the left dodging Nos' blade. With his back towards Nos, Dakkar grabbed Nos' arm, back stepped closer to Nos' body, elbowed him in the abdomen, and used the force of his blow to send Nos flying over his shoulder and into the pan rack in front of them. The commotion caused all of the cooks to look up at once. Dakkar nodded at them coolly. They called for a clean up and went right back to business as usual, forgetting that anything had ever happened.

Nos coughed and wheezed as he got up and dashed to the side exit still hunched over nursing his abdomen. He ran away down the hall, and turned into a patient's room only to find that Dakkar was already waiting for him. Nos fell back as he staggared out into the hallway. He dove over a nurse's cart and kicked it over on his descent, causing a commotion in the hall. Nos used the time he had bought to run down the hallway, arming his pistols, and aiming them down the hallway where Dakkar was about to be. He used another cart in the hall as cover and fired a few rounds from each pistol. Because of his blind fire, Nos hit a nurse in the shoulder and a patient's wheelchair I.V. apparatus. People screamed and scattered down the hallway.

Nos looked up and Dakkar was nowhere to be found. He felt an intense heat above him and dodged to just barely miss Dakkar's right heel. Dakkar's leg was on fire and the blow caused the cart to go flying upward along with shards of tiles and flooring. With his left hand in his pocket and his right hand on the hilt of his katana, Dakkar pivoted on his freshly planted foot and struck Nos' back with his free foot, effectively pinning him to the ground.

"It burns something fierce, doesn't it?" Dakkar mocked. "The power of the Phoenix. This is the power that the Order and Lucifer himself want so badly. This power is what you'll die for today." Dakkar said with conviction as he readied his right hand for the killing blow.

Nos wriggled his left hand free, and shot at Dakkar's head with inhuman speed, missing him by inches. Dakkar lost his balance while trying to dodge Nos' attack, and his blazing fist missed Nos' face by centimeters. Again the blow made the floor tremble, and sent more shards of tile and concrete flying upward from the force. Dakkar retreated to a low stance, his left hand still in pocket and right hand back on his katana's hilt. As the dust cleared, Nos could see his face again. He was grinning, his eyes brimming with a kind of joy a hunter feels when he's got his prey in his sights.

Dakkar spun low on his left foot and swept low knocking Nos' feet into the air. Nos' body aligned parallel to the floor completly open for Dakkar's next blow. The pain in Nos' ankle was almost unbearable. Dakkar had broken it with the power of his kick, and the burns he suffered from the blow would cause any normal vampire permanent damage. Dakkar used the momentum from his first attack to set up for his next kick. As Nos fell on his back, Dakkar dexterously axe kicked Nos in the chest in mid drop using the same blazing foot he swept him with. The blow buckled Nos' body like a ragdoll that was hit by a truck. When Nos hit the ground the force of the blow caused the ground to crack even more, and Dakkar could feel Nos' ribs break under the sole of his burning foot. Dakkar looked down and saw the barrel of Nos' right hand pistol and grinned. Nos fired, and Dakkar pulled back, giving Nos just enough time to make an attempt at escape. Nos' injuries were healing almost as fast as Dakkar could make them. Within seconds Nos was back to perfect health.

Nos dashed down the hall shooting blindly in Dakkar's general direction. Dakkar grabbed the disfigured cart and used it as a shield as he ran down the hallway in Nos' direction. Bullets bounced off the cart's metal surface as Dakkar gave chase. Nos kicked open the stairway door with Dakkar right on his tail. The stairs spiraled down in a square fashion. There was barely enough room for Nos to jump down the center. He emptied both clips at Dakkar and jumped down to the first floor. As Nos fell he released the empty clips from his pistols and reloaded them with the last two clips he had on his thighs. They were concealed in a break-away Velcro holster that he had always kept for occasions that required more than just a few bullets. He'd never needed them until today.

Dakkar dropped the cart and followed Nos in the same fashion. While falling, Dakkar took his wolf form again. It was easier to dodge bullets in a form that took less space. Nos landed feet first, and fired a few rounds up at Dakkar. Dakkar bounced from wall to wall popping in and out of cover. Furious at his failed attempts, Nos fled down the hallway and around the corner furthest from Dakkar's location.

'He's fast, I'll admit that.' Dakkar mused. He darted through the rampaged hallway with ease in this form. Dakkar easily cleared carts that Nos had knocked down. Patients who were victim to Nos' obstacle game were easily avoided. There was a 'T' junction that was blocked by four nurses tending a one of Nos' victims. He had been shot in the chest and was bleeding profusely. Dakkar ran up the right side of the wall, jumped on to the left side corner, and launched himself onto the ceiling. The nurses and patients stared in awe as a black wolf ran across the ceiling of the hospital hallway. Dakkar could sense another attack coming from the other side of the corner down the hall. The bullet ricocheted off a metal cart and took out a ceiling light next to Dakkar. He jumped down from the ceiling and took the turn at top speed. In no time he had already caught up to his target and was still gaining ground. Nos fired at Dakkar as he hopped through gurneys, carts, and stretchers. He dodged every bullet as if he could see them and adjusted his path accordingly. Nos fled to the closest exit, which happened to be the loading dock. There was a fork lift in use near the hospital entrance to the docks, and Nos commandeered it effortlessly, making his way deeper into the dock.

The receptionists were much too busy to notice her arrival. The hospital serviced a great number of patients on a regular basis, and the two emergency room receptionists were not enough staff for all the people that came through. It was hard enough keeping track of their pens, let alone every person who walked through the door. Claire made her way down the hall to the elevators unnoticed. While she waited for an elevator to stop at the ground floor, she did a quick check of the little bit of her blood that was in Dakkar's stomach. His body was processing the blood so fast it was already getting hard to tell where he was because of how diluted it was getting. Even if she checked, she wouldn't be able to see his surroundings, but she knew his whereabouts quite as plain as day. He was in the cafeteria on the second floor.

The elevator dinged open and she took it up, casually stepping out, and made her way to the cafeteria's seating area. She glanced around, but didn't see him there. She decided she would do a more thorough search as he might be hiding behind someone. Slowly, she made her way down the aisles of seating, making note of every face. She got to the last row without even a hint of his presence, and spun around furious that even after reaching his destination, Dakkar would still be trying to give her the slip. 'He must really not want me to follow him.' She thought to herself. She could feel the ground shake on three separate occasions.

"What the hell is that!" Claire said out loud. People were shouting 'earth quake' as they fled to the exits. 'Could that be him?' She wondered. 'It has to be!'

She wasn't about to let him get away with that. He was her only connection to her older brother Drake, and she wasn't gonna let him get away without some answers. He definitely knew something. If she didn't find him soon though, she might lose his trail. If her blood got any more diluted in his stomach she knew she wouldn't be able to trace him anymore. There was always his apartment, but she was out of it so fast she couldn't be really sure where that was either. No she had to find him, and fast.

Checking her blood again, Claire found Dakkar to be back on the first floor. She dashed out of the cafeteria and punched the elevator button. Thinking better of it, she took a corner and took the stairs. She was going to find him. She had to. As she opened the door there were bullet holes everywhere, carts, stretchers and supplies littered the floor. 'What the hell happened here?' She wondered. She ran down the path and turned the corner. There was a loading dock and Dakkar was on the other side of the entrance with his back to the wall.

"Dakkar!" Claire shouted, and she dashed out into the open. Claire felt a sudden jolt as Dakkar knocked her out of the way. A forklift crashed through the wall. It was going faster than it should have. 'Nos Elroy.' Claire thought. Nos could manipulate metal, and vehicles were his preferred weapons. Claire looked up to see Dakkar impaled through the chest and pinned to the wall with the fork lift.

"Good. You distracted him Claire. Now finish him off and I'll take you back to the Order." Nos said with a slight chuckle.

As she saw Dakkar's body go limp, Claire was filled with an overwhelming rage. Her only lead to the truth of her brother's death was dying right before her eyes and the man that made it happen was still sitting in the driver's seat of his murder weapon with a grin on his face. She picked up Dakkar's katana which was now lying on the floor. Nos backed the forklift out of the loading dock's wall to make room for the beheading. Dakkar dropped to the floor and began writhing in agony as the blades of the lifting apparatus were retracted from his body.

Claire hesitated a moment as she looked at Dakkar with sad eyes. "Hey what's going on Claire? You do work for the order, don't you? What, was he your boyfriend or something?" Nos mocked her from the seat of the forklift. "Well your boyfriend here is on the top of the hit list." Claire glowered at him angrily.

Nos could tell then that a fight with Claire was imminent so he slowly mutated the forklift, changing it mechanically and electronically. There was a jewel on his right ear that flashed as liquid metal came pouring out onto the forklift. "C'mon Claire! What is he to you that you need to defend him anyway? We don't have to do this! Just finish him off and we'll go back to the Order together. Who knows? Maybe the higher-ups will give us better positions." Nos said suggestively.

"I don't work for the Order anymore and I'll take your life as my letter of resignation!" Claire said calmly as she unsheathed Dakkar's katana.

"Alright, fine!" Nos said in a defeatist tone of voice. "He must be something special to you. I've never seen you protect someone with this intensity before. In that case, this could be interesting! And I won't hold back."

Claire had never used a katana before but her body knew that it was essentially a longer knife, and she held it with one hand easily. 'This weapon better be worth a damn.' Claire thought as she focused on the forklift's vital spots. They were mended or guarded by Nos' ability to shift metal. The wheels were no longer visible and the gas tank was swallowed by the back end of the chassis. The lifting apparatus was warped and twisted to look more like the horns of a long horned deer. Claire decided her next move would be to disarm him. She put both hands on the katana and aligned the tip of the katana up with the bar that adjusted the height of the now twisted lifting apparatus.

"Ready or not, here I come Claire!" Nos shouted hysterically and the demonic forklift rapidly approached her.

"This better cut, damnit." Claire said under her breath. She stepped forward with her left foot, pivoted to her right, and lowered the katana. A big gash on the ground and loud scraping sounds followed the blade as she crouched down on to her left knee. As the forklift passed, the barbed horns of the lifting apparatus missed her head by inches, and she swung upward with all her might, using only her right hand and the momentum from her turn. This gave the motion of her swing a longer reach. Swirling back around, Claire could see the katana had cut cleanly through the lower portion of the chassis and made its way up through the cockpit and out past the top end of the driver's seat. Nos had a huge gash from his left hip up to his right lower abdomen just inches above his navel. Blood and entrails poured from his body as he coughed. He fumbled to retrieve his organs as his body healed the wound.

"What the fuck!" Nos shouted as he coughed up blood profusely. "You're good. If I were a normal vampire I'd be bed ridden and hooked up to a blood I.V. for weeks." His wound was already almost completely healed.

"If you're not a normal vampire, then what the hell are you Nos? That would have killed anyone, human or vampire!" Claire staggered as she struggled to regain her battle composure.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" Nos wiped his mouth clean of blood.

Claire had noticed that while Nos had healed, the forklift had not. Before Nos could turn the forklift for another pass, Claire made quickly to attack once again. She dashed toward the forklift and threw the katana at the back end. The katana pierced the metal and she pivoted on her right foot, turning her body in one complete revolution. Using the momentum of the turn, she wound back her left leg and planted her heel into the hilt of the katana. The forklift made a shrieking sound as if wailing in pain as the katana's blade sank deeper into its body. She elegantly switched feet, and made another revolution with her left foot. She used this new momentum to kick the side of the katana's hilt with her right foot. This sent the blade ripping forward as sparks flew from the metal. Nos tried to move the forklift forward to escape her attack, but it was too late. Claire had gripped the katana and pushed it clear through the forklift, cutting it in half horizontally as easily as if it was an english muffin.

The body of the forklift sparked as the katana was splitting the forklift in two. Nos pulled out one of his pistols and attempted to shoot Claire as she passed the driver's seat. She slid under the katana and used her forward momentum to slide past unscathed from Nos' bullets. The katana's path arched to the center as she reached the front of the vehicle. Claire vaulted upwards toward the lifting apparatus. She used her legs to suspend her body upside down from the barbed-like horns. She wrenched the katana free from the body of the forklift and slashed deeply into the tower that held the barbed blades up.

It creaked as it slowly began to give while supporting Claire's weight. She held on steadfastly and noticed that the forklift began to move forward once more. Because of Nos' powers, despite all of the damage to the lift, he managed enough strength to move the forklift and helped it to increasingly gain speed. She turned around, still clinging to the front of the forklift, Katana in hand, and saw that they were on a crash course into the side of a flatbed truck. She dashed forward off of the forklift as fast as she could and Nos angrily gave chase. Claire reached the truck a few seconds before the forklift did and used the fuel tank of the flatbed as a hurdle to vault over the crazed assassin. While in the air, Dakkar's gun flew near her head, and she caught it with her free hand on the way over the top of the forklift. She aligned its sights with the fuel tank. As the forklift pierced the truck's side it also pierced the trucks fuel tank. Fuel came spurting out and Claire braced for an explosion as she squeezed the trigger off a few times.

The force of the blow sent her reeling into the loading dock's alley walls. A piece of shrapnel from the explosion cut deeply into her left side. She yanked it out and it fell to the ground along with a dribbling pool of her blood. She could sense Nos was still alive so she let it bleed out a bit. The metal had torn her heart from the aorta down. It was a serious wound, and because of that, she knew it would take her at least a few minutes to recover. Hunched over on her hands and knees, Claire used the katana as a crutch and struggled to her feet once more.

"Claire Murray!" Nos shouted. He slowly crawled out of the fire. At first it was just his upper body. His lungs, liver, intestines, bones and muscles rapidly reformed. He got up onto his newly formed feet, and used the metal around him to refashion his clothing and his pistols.

"Wow Claire, bravo!" Nos taunted. The liquid metal crawled up to his right hand and he fashioned a long, thin scythe. The blade was as black as night, and adorned simply with a silver inscription that read, "Veni Vidi Vici" He smiled largely at his token phrase. "So I heard from Eli that you can only be killed by taking off your head. I knew it wouldn't be easy but... Here you are injured and at my mercy. You and your boyfriend there caused me to miss my target! The order has plans for that imitation blood, you see."

Suddenly, Nos' left shoulder erupted with blood as the echo of a gunshot could be heard coming from the docking bay. "Don't worry though, you're not gonna die alone. I'll send your dog with you." He turned swiftly to Dakkar who was using the wall of the loading dock for support. Dakkar grinned snidely even though he was still severely injured from the forklift. This sent Nos into a furious rage as his new bullet wound healed. Nos dashed to Dakkar and jammed his hand into the gaping hole in Dakkar's chest, ripping his heart from his chest as he pulled his hand back out.

"Just die human lap dog!" Nos snarled.

Dakkar fell to the floor. Despair gripped Claire as she saw Dakkar's always-present smile begin to fade away, and his eyes begin to set themselves in a blank stare. Her eyes ignited with the blue flame that signaled the use of her power. Claire fashioned her blood into thirteen giant daggers and grabbed two of them with each hand. Almost fully recovered from the shrapnel blow, she walked slowly to Nos as he turned. Her head was bowed and Nos could not see her face. He tried to move but before he could lift his foot one of Claire's daggers skewered it and pinned it to the ground with a web of chains that originated from the hilt. Claire walked closer one step at a time. Nos tried to grab his pistol with his right hand but before he could aim another of Claire's daggers had ripped through his forearm. The blood dagger burst open, and covered the wound to prevent it from healing.

Nos panicked and his earring flashed. The pistol flew toward his other hand. Another one of Claire's daggers cut his pistol in half and the pistol fell to the ground. The two halves of the pistol melted and tried to get back to their owner. Before it reached him however, another one of Claire's daggers whipped by his ear and tore it off. The earring was hanging on the opposite wall from a piece of Nos' ear that had been caught on Claire's dagger. Nos motioned with his left arm but was stopped at his shoulder. A dagger had impaled his joint and barbed inward preventing it's removal and his healing capabilities.

"You bitc..." Nos' words were cut short as a dagger pierced his throat. The hilt split into two chains and anchored it's self into each of his collar bones. Claire used three more daggers to anchor his other leg, and two more to pierce each of Nos' lungs. Those in turn fashioned into chains, anchored to the ground behind Nos, and clawed open Nos' ribcage exposing his heart and other internal organs. Bones could be heard breaking as Nos' blood spurted out of his body. Claire, at this point, stood at arm's length. She tossed her left hand dagger into the air, and fashioned her right hand dagger into a claw-like gauntlet. Nos' blood began gushing out of his mutilated body as his heart pumped slower.

"This is how you rip someone's heart out." Claire said softly into his remaining ear. She enclosed her palm around his heart and twisted as it ruptured. Her final knife came down on the dagger anchored to his throat and it wrenched his head from his body. Nos' blood and body immediately turned to ash and Claire's eyes returned to their normal grey color. The daggers Claire had fashioned went limp and fell to the floor in pools of blood. She ran to Dakkar's side and couldn't help but shed a tear before she gasped with a sudden realization. 'He didn't turn to ashes yet!'

"Claire! You have to help him! He is dying!" Clara shouted from her jeweled prison.

"Why isn't he healing?" Claire said frantically.

"Brother hasn't had any blood in almost three months! He couldn't heal a wound this big even if he wanted to."

"What?" Claire shouted. "He's a vampire for fuck's sake!"

"Why are you so reluctant to help him? He didn't hesitate for a second to save your life." Clara said desperately.

"Why should I help him when he refuses to help me?" Claire argued.

"He can't help anyone if he dies!" Clara retorted.

"You have a point, what should I do?"

"First his heart. He needs it back in his body." Clara said calmly. Claire grabbed it and felt it beat faintly as she placed it back in his chest.

"What now!" Claire struggled to keep from looking at Dakkar's chest area.

"Next. Your blood, you can control it right? Gather it and open his mouth." Clara ordered.

"Right!" Claire nodded. She gathered what was left from her battle with Nos. She opened Dakkar's mouth and poured it down slowly. His wound healed but he remained unconscious. "He's still not awake, and that was a lot of my blood! What do I do now? Oh god, he'll know everything!" Claire realized.

"Don't worry about that! He is stable, but he needs more rest and a place to stay. More of the Order's goon's will show up soon. Nos was here to assassinate someone in the hospital. They will know that he failed, and if they find Dakkar in this weakened state they will kill him. Then your brother's secret dies with him." Clara explained.

"I know, you don't need to remind me! I'll help him... He's all I got." Claire said reluctantly. "I mean in terms of my brother and all." Claire corrected. "My apartment is closer to this place than his. Dakkar can move quite fast when wants to he passed my complex three times trying to lose me back there." Claire grinned.

"Great!" Clara said excitedly. "And when we get there I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Right. Now I need to find a way to get him there." Claire managed to get help and a stretcher, While the hospital phoned for a cab. She explained to the doctors that Dakkar was a vampire and that he just needed rest because he was injured in the explosion. She told them that he was her fiancé and his only next of kin. They agreed to let him go and they wished her the best of luck.


End file.
